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kalium comments on Open thread, July 23-29, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

9 Post author: David_Gerard 22 July 2013 10:34AM

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Comment author: kalium 23 July 2013 12:25:25AM 6 points [-]

My immediate reaction to this proposal was a feeling of being personally attacked. "Fine, meat's expensive and a pain to cook anyway, but I'll be damned if you take away my French fries too." It also seems that every fad diet, including crazy stuff like juice cleansing, promises increased "energy" and the like; in this context, the anecdotal claims are not persuasive.

Conclusion: could work on people who don't get much pleasure out of food to begin with, but associating with animal rights activism seems likely to be counterproductive. It might also be less irritating if these foods were promoted as, well, foods, rather than the only thing you will ever eat again. I could definitely see a version of Soylent replacing my standard breakfast of instant ramen if the cost were anywhere near competitive.

Comment author: mare-of-night 27 July 2013 01:00:44PM 2 points [-]

Based on discussions I've had with people about soylent, this seems about right. It's a really, really appealing idea to someone like me who often thinks of food as a problem to solve rather than an enjoyment, but it appears that a lot of people enjoy food more frequently than I do. It also sounds like there's not much additional benefit to consuming soylent exclusively, so the optimal way to eat it would probably be some mix of soylent and your favorite foods.

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 27 July 2013 09:35:14PM *  1 point [-]

I would love to have soylent as a backup food. Like, when I care about food, I buy or prepare one, but when I don't care, I can always take soylent from the freezer, and once in a time order another large package.

I can imagine that after some time it would become eating soylent at home or at work, and eating normal food only in social situations.

Comment author: RomeoStevens 23 July 2013 05:08:03AM 1 point [-]